1878.] 
R. B. Shaw —Stray Arians in Tibet. 
35 
But they have no caste inequalities amongst them like their non-Musal- 
man kinsmen, and generally they do not object to drinking milk, though 
at Tsirmo, there seems to be a relic of the Brolcpa prejudice against the 
cow in the fact that their women do not touch that animal. 
A short account of the language of these Upper Indus Dards (or Dah- 
Hanu Brblcjpas, as they are usually called), including both the Buddhist 
and the Musalman sections, is given hereafter. 
It is a question how these Arian Dards (for Arians and Dards they 
undoubtedly are) reached their present abode. Both above and below them 
in the valley of the Upper Indus and to bhe east of them in the parallel 
valley of the Shayok, the inhabitants are all of Tibetan race. Dardistan pro¬ 
per, or the country of the Dards* * * § (the ancient Bolor'), is situated far away 
on the lower course of the Upper Indus, and along that river no vestige of 
their passage exists and no connecting link with their former home.f But 
from the country of the Dards the Indus makes a wide bend westwards 
and southwards, and from the concavity of this bend we find a line of 
Dard communities running south at first and then trending off: to the east 
until it almost abuts against the settlements of the Dah-Hanu Brolcpas on 
the Upper Indus. These Dards are Musalmans, as are also the main body 
of the Dard race in their own home. The Buddhist BroTcpas of Dah-Hanu 
acknowledge no kinship with these people, although they say that their 
ancestors also came from Gilid (Gilgit) and BrusJidl , that is, from Dardi¬ 
stan proper. There is, however, an unmistakable mutual affinity of language 
and customs. Mr. Drew,J in explanation of the difference of religion, very 
justly supposes the Dah-Hanu Brolcpds to “ belong to an earlier immigra¬ 
tion.separated from the main mass of their tribe brethren at a time be¬ 
fore the Dards were converted to Muhammedanism.”§ The Dah-Hanu 
people, having Buddhists on one side of them, would the more easily receive 
an outward varnish of that faith, while the later Dard settlements to the 
west of them, surrounded by, and intermingled with, Musalmans, would 
* See Mr. Drew’s excellent Race Map in Inis u Jummoo and Kashmir.” To illus¬ 
trate the present paper the whole of the lightly shaded region to the south, west and 
north of Gilgit up to the Muztagh mountains, should he painted of the same colour as 
Gilgit, for it is all the home of the Dards, though Mr. Drew’s plan only permitted him 
to colour what lies within the Maharaja of Kashmir’s territories. 
f The isolated settlements of Dards in certain villages of Baltistan, are apparently 
of more recent origin and moreover do not bridge the chasm. 
X Drew’s “ Jummoo and Kashmir”, p. 430. 
§ If we are to believe the Tarikh-i-Rashidi, this had not taken place at the time 
of its author, Mirza Haidar’s invasion of Dardistan, in the first half of the 16th cen¬ 
tury ; and, according to Mr. Drew, “Jummoo and Kashmir”, page 429, does not seem 
to have been very completely effected so lately as 30 years ago. 
